At the start of the race Villeneuve made a remarkable start to slot between Jabouille and Pironi to go into the lead. Laffite followed Villeneuve and at the first corner the order was Villeneuve, Pironi, Laffite, Jabouille and Arnoux. Reutemann's race ended almost immediately with a driveshaft failure.

Jabouille rapidly passed both Ligiers and on the second lap led his three fellow countrymen ahead of Villeneuve. In the laps which followed Villeneuve fell behind de Angelis and Jones. It was not long before Villeneuve pitted for new tires.

Pironi also pitted because of a skirt problem and so Jabouille was left with Laffite and Arnoux chasing. Laffite's race lasted only 14 laps and then the Ligier ground to a halt with an electrical problem. The Renaults were running 1-2 with de Angelis third and Jones fourth. Then came Riccardo Patrese (Arrows) and Alain Prost (McLaren) while Pironi was charging back up in seventh.

On lap 26 Jabouille suffered a turbo failure and so Arnoux was left in the lead and he remained there for the rest of the afternoon with de Angelis and Jones following him home at a distance. Pironi recovered to fourth with Prost fifth and Patrese sixth.